Defending champions Australia and earthquake-struck New Zealand go into the match with more than two points to play for.
When Australia and New Zealand lock horns on Friday, it isn’t going to be a mere Match No 8 of the Group A in the World Cup. Skippers Daniel Vettori and Ricky Ponting have other things also to deal with.
While Vettori will be leading a bunch having their minds pre-occupied with the tragedy in Christchurch, Ponting would, for once, want to make news for the right reasons. He was reprimanded by the ICC for his television-breaking act in the dressing room during their match against Zimbabwe in Ahmedabad. Ponting regretted the incident.
The other thing which both Ponting and Vettori would want to win for is the Chappell-Hadlee Trophy. In one of its kind affair, the annual bilateral event between the Tran-Tasman teams is going to be contested in the ICC event, and that too in India.
Family members of both the illustrious cricketing families would be present at the venue. Dayle Hadlee, Richard Hadlee’s elder brother and Ian Chappell would be present at the venue to give away the trophy to the winner. Therefore, Ponting would not only be defending his 23 World Cup games-winning streak but also the trophy which they won last year in New Zealand.
Ground realities say that Australia have the upper hand. Of their total 123 meetings, Australia won a whopping 84 of them. Even the last two World Cup meetings of the two have been won by Ponting & Co.
Vettori would surely want to take some heart from their win against Kenya, but his subcontinental record of 11 consecutive losses before that game in Chennai is something that will surely be at the back of his mind. And coming into this game, New Zealand’s preparations were surely hit by the absence of their physio and trainer.
The two, Dayle Shackel and Bryan Stronach, went back to Christchurch to support their families affected by the earthquake.
Ponting is happy to have Jason Krejza as a part of his squad. For the record, it was on this ground that Krejza got 12 wickets on debut against India, though Australia lost the game, but the spinner would surely be high on confidence.
In fact, Ponting went on to say that the 28-year-old was very excited about coming back to his favourite venue. “He wanted to come in the morning itself but we had to hold him back,” chuckled Ponting. The offie was impressive against Zimbabwe taking 2/28.
Taking a leaf from Australia’s submissive start against Zimbabwe spinners, Vettori is likely to employ Nathan McCullum’s off-spin upfront. “There is always a chance to do that,” said the skipper. Ponting too admitted that he is expecting his Kiwi counterpart to open the bowling with spinners.
It is unlikely that either of the teams would change their playing XI. Ponting conceded that he is missing a southpaw in his side. Not many teams these days go without a left-hand batsman in their top-6, but Ponting is living with that too. It has never been so tough for him.
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